The Swiss franc strengthened against all of its most actively traded counterparts as data showed inflation accelerated more than economists forecast in March. The currency gained most against Japan’s yen as Swiss statistics showed consumer prices increased 1 percent in March from a year earlier, above the 0.5 percent median gain of 12 estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Swiss National Bank board member Jean-Pierre Danthine told Boersen-Zeitung that an interest-rate increase by the European Central Bank would give Switzerland leeway in deciding its own policy. The franc appreciated 1 percent to 91.64 centimes per dollar as of 11:59 a.m. in London and strengthened 0.4 percent to 1.3106 per euro. The Swiss currency appreciated as much as 1.5 percent against the yen to 93.056, the most since October 2008. “The CPI data were a bit of a surprise, much higher than expectations,” said Chris Walker, a foreign-exchange strategist at UBS AG in London. “The market wasn’t positioned for such a strong print. That’s why we’ve seen quite a big move.” The ECB will increase the key interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.25 percent tomorrow, according to all 57 economists in a separate Bloomberg survey. To contact the reporter on this story: Keith Jenkins in London at kjenkins3@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net

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